Herring Creek flows into Stamford's Metro Center

Richard Lee

Published 10:13 pm, Monday, February 4, 2013

The hedge fund industry in southwestern Connecticut is showing new signs of growth with the arrival of a newly established firm at the Metro Center in Stamford.

Founded by Steve Galbraith, former partner at Maverick Capital, Herring Creek Capital, a hedge fund specializing in long-short strategies, has leased 7,300 square feet of office space at the building adjacent to the Stamford Transportation Center.

Herring Creek will take occupancy of a fifth-floor space by April for a seven-year term. Malkin Construction will build out the space for the tenant, according to Jeffrey Newman, executive vice president of Malkin Properties, the marketing and management agent for the building.

Galbraith was unavailable for comment, but George Walker, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, who represented Herring Capital in its search for a site, said the building location was a key factor.

"As Herring Creek searched for a top-flight office environment within close proximity to rail access in the Greenwich/Stamford area, it became clear that Metro Center offered all of the key elements that would be of value to management, employees and clients alike," he said.

Galbraith spent eight years at employee-owned hedge fund advisor Maverick Capital, ascending to partner before leaving to start his own company. The firm will manage a portfolio of several hundred million dollars in investment assets.

"He's been in business a long time. He'll have a good following," said Sandy Gross, founder and managing partner of Pinetum Partners, a Greenwich executive search firm specializing in the financial services industry.

Noting the number of hedge fund operations that have closed or reduced staff, she said Galbraith will have the opportunity to fill his firm with capable analysts and portfolio managers.

"It will be a buyer's market for him," Gross said.

Newman was impressed with Galbraith's resume, enough to lease the space to a start up.

More established professionals with solid reputations, like Galbraith, will have more success attracting investors that younger hedge fund operators, said Bruce McGuire, president and founder of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, which has about 1,000 individual members.

"It's a lot harder these days to get a new hedge fund off the ground, unless you're coming from a well-respected firm, like Maverick," he said.

Herring Capital will lease a portion of space formerly occupied by Media Networks, a unit of Time. Tweedy, Browne, which is moving its headquarters from New York City to the building this month, will lease the adjoining 24,400 square feet.

Lutetium Capital, created by Trilogy Capital co-founder Paul Greenberg, preceded Herring at the building, taking temporary space on the first floor before moving into 3,400 square feet on the fourth floor this spring. It has a five-year lease.